LA · rules
La. Sup. Ct. R. III, § 7
Criminal Records
Records in criminal cases shall contain the following in the listed order:
A. Indices of filings, oral testimony, documents, and exhibits (as required by
Section 4 of this Rule);
B. Typed copies of minute entries, showing in chronological order the opening of
court, the impaneling of the grand jury by which the indictment (if the
prosecution was by indictment) was found, the various lists of challenges for
cause, peremptory challenges, petit jurors selected, all evidence, and all
witnesses, the times the jury went out and returned, and the jury's verdict;
C. The indictment or bill of information, all pleas, demurrers, and motions and
orders, including the verdict and sentence, in the order in which they were filed,
made, returned, or imposed;
D. The assignments of error in numerical order and the trial judge's per curiams, if
any, which should follow each assignment of error. If the evidence necessary to
form a basis for an assignment of error has been transcribed elsewhere in the
record, such as in a full transcript of the trial, it may be incorporated by
reference to the appropriate page numbers of the transcript or record, so as to
dispense with unnecessary duplication in the record;
E. The transcript of oral evidence at the trial and at any preliminary hearing, if
made part of the record, each being prepared as in the case of transcripts for
civil appeals (see Section 6(G) of this Rule);
In capital cases in which a sentence of death has been imposed and appealed to
this Court, the record shall conform to the other requirements of this Section
and shall also contain, in addition to a complete transcript of the oral evidence
offered at the guilt and penalty phases of trial, transcripts of the following: all
pretrial evidentiary hearings in chronological order in which they occurred; voir
dire examination of prospective jurors in its entirety; opening statements of
counsel at the beginning of the guilt phase; closing arguments of counsel at the
guilt phase and the state's rebuttal argument; the lower court's jury instructions
at the guilt phase and the jury's return of its verdict(s); opening statements of
counsel at the penalty phase; closing arguments of counsel at the penalty phase
and the state's rebuttal argument; the lower court's jury instructions at the
penalty phase and the jury's return of its sentencing determination(s). The
transcripts of pretrial hearings shall conform to the requirements of Section
6(G) above, and the transcript of voir dire examination shall identify each
prospective juror by name as he or she is questioned and the party litigant
conducting the examination. The district judge in the court in which the case
was tried shall retain all notes and video and audio recordings of the
proceedings as the property of the court and, as to appeals in capital cases only,
shall certify that the record conforms to the requirements of this Section before
it is lodged in this Court;
F. Exhibits not included in the bound volumes of the record, prepared as in the
case of civil appeals (see Section 6(H) of this Rule); and
G. In all cases appealed to this Court from a judgment rendered in a criminal case
by a parish, city or municipal court, wherein the testimony of witnesses was
electronically recorded, such electronic recording shall, before lodging of the
appeal in this Court, be transcribed, and a certified copy of the original
transcription and either the one or two duplicates shall be prepared and filed in
accordance with the foregoing sections of this Rule.
History
Repealed and re-enacted by the Supreme Court's order of December 2025 (Rules I–XII, XIV and XLII), effective 2026-01-01.
Provenance
- Source
- www.lasc.org
- Retrieved
- 2026-09-18
- Edition
- 2026-09-18
- Content hash
7fa83ba0e8dbd8fd13b93459abcc1bd6e08113c066bfa6cb3b29e362e316fc1f
The link goes to the issuing authority’s own document — the one we read to produce this record. Where a source publishes whole titles rather than sections, your browser may need a moment to jump to the provision.
Unofficial copy of government-published law, reproduced from official sources with full provenance. Not an official publication; verify against official sources before relying on it in a filing. Records in the 'guidance' corpus, and only that corpus, are sub-regulatory (interpretive guidelines, survey procedures) and are not binding law. Validity bounds follow each jurisdiction's declared temporalBasis.